This excellent translation makes available a classic work central to one of the most interesting controversies
of the eighteenth century: the quarrel between Rousseau and Voltaire. Besides containing some of the most sensitive
literary criticism ever written (especially of Molière), the book is an excellent introduction to the principles
of classical political thought. It demonstrates the paradoxes of Rousseau's though and clearly displays the temperament
that led him to repudiate the hopes of the Enlightenment.
Table of Contents
I. The Doctrine of the Geneva Pastors
A. The Theatre Considered in Relation to What Is Performed in It
II. Is the Theatre Good or bad in Itself?
III. The French Theatre: Tragedy
IV. The French Theatre: Comedy--Molière and His Successors
V. Love and the Theatre
B. The Theatre Considered in Relation to the Stage and the Actors
VI. The Theatre and Luxury
VII. The Law and Morals [Manners]
VIII. Actors and Actresses
C. The Establishment of a Theatre at Geneva
IX. The Theatre and Geneva's Institutions
X. The Theatre and Republican Virtues
XI. Entertainments Proper for a Republic
Appendix: The Article "Geneva" from l'Encyclopédia
Translator's Notes
